United defeated Portsmouth 2-0 on Saturday to move up to fifth in the League One table, and the showstopper was delighted with the nature of the victory.

He spoke to iFollow Iron ahead of the trip to Gillingham, and discussed how important it is for Scunthorpe to keep their focus over the course of the season.

ON THE RUN OF CLEAN SHEETS…MG: First and foremost, getting a win is more important than a clean sheet. However, as a goalkeeper and a defensive unit, it’s nice to keep a clean sheet as well as get a victory. It’s a boost to the defence and team as a whole, we have been very hard to beat - we’re determined and are throwing our bodies on the line. It’s a great achievement so far and hopefully it will continue.

"We’re determined and are throwing our bodies on the line. It’s a great achievement so far and hopefully it will continue."

Matt Gilks, goalkeeper

ON HAVING TWO RELATIVELY QUIET GAMES IN TERMS OF THERE BEING SAVES TO MAKE…MG: I’ve said many times to a lot of people, I’d rather go off the pitch with a clean shirt and clean shorts, because it means the team have done really well stopping the threats. I can keep the defence on their toes though and help them out with the communication side of things. They’ve done extremely well. For the last ten minutes at Doncaster for example, we brought big Cameron Burgess on and he headed everything on that pitch! It shows we can bring people off the bench to do jobs, and it shows how resilient we are back there. We are a team and it’s a group effort. We at the back keep a clean sheet and we then expect the strikers to score at the other end. It’s nice when we can all pat each other on the back like we did in the changing room after the game on Saturday.

ON THE IMPACT LEE NOVAK HAS MADE…MG: He’s come in and done well. He’s been around the game a long time and fitted in extremely well, just like Crofty (Andrew Crofts). He’s come into the team and scored goals. Hopefully he can continue to bag at that end, and we can keep clean sheets at the other.

ON GILLINGHAM PARTING COMPANY WITH THEIR MANAGER ON THE EVE OF THE GAME…MG: Whoever takes charge, it gives everyone a new lease of life. They have someone else to impress. We don’t really look in-depth at what they do, we’re focused on what we do, although we look at them to a point. We don’t have any fear going into any game. It’s a long trip but we’ll take our momentum from the last few games into this match and hopefully come out on top. Ultimately, it’s our attitude coming into the game and what we can impose on them